Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-01-28

and with munifcent liberaity has given YOU
an institution which connects itself with
your churches and schools and which, wise
~ administered, Mill he IA power for civil
cation scarcely less influential than either
Its adjustment 50 as to work harmonious
ly and efficiently with existing institutions
may he slow. Some mistakes will be nevi
table but they should be few. Everybody
knows that organizations exist throughout
the country for promoting common school
education, and for the announcement ui
teachers; but ! think it is less generally
known that in Great Britain aud in the
United States there is a similar organiza
ton designed 10 promote the establishment
and conduct Of librares-m mainly Of free
public libraries Our own is called the Am
erican library association, which maintains
a journal, now entering upon its twelfth
year, in which are 10 he found the papers
and discussions Of experts on every con
| ceivabe question Of library economy and
administration, ELECTED during the annual
three days sessions, constituting "A body of
literature that cannot prudently he over
| looked Toy those concerned in the manage
ment Of libraries
The new order is fairly imaugurnted; but
in taking leave Of the old order and enter
| ing upon the new under such suspicious cir
cumstances am not willing to be under
stood as saying, since | am far from think
ing, that the time now is. or ever will be.
when the personal influence Of noble men
and women will fail
TO give Us manners. virtue freedom. power"
or that it will be of small account in the up
building and maintenance Of that state Of
| society in which alone life is worth living
| What wish to say is, that with the advance
! oi general education the influence of eNcep-
| tiunally cultured persons will probably be
! not so much felt ns heretofore as auart from
| the people and above them. as in giving iii
rcction and efficiency 10 organized forces.
| like churches, schools and libraries Brat
| tleborough has entered upon the new order
| Her free public library receives cordial
| greetings from sister libraries u one more
| OF those institutions which bring on the
beneticent ages Always known as one Of
| the most beautiful of the river towns and
as the abode Of intelligent and refined PEG
! pie, SO she will continue to be known i'm the
larger life upon which she enters to-day
| She has lost one of her most esteemed citi-
zens-him whom she respected for his pub
| lie spirit his pure character and his daily
| life-him for whom she mourns as one that
| is dead. But what continuance Of charac-
ter and Of example will he his What ngcs
/ viii partake Of his liberality what success
SION Of children will cherish his memory
what generations of men and women will
| owe To HIM higher, richer. happier lives
have mentioned some indications of a
| revolution now IN progress, thus far pro
ceeding 10y constitutional methods and with
out shock to well-resuated sensibilities
which has already shifted the power of GOV
ernment from the few 10 the many, and
shaken the partition walls which divide
scots, and pupularzed science. art and lite
nature, and impaired personal and social
prestige, and led to popular organization of
forces once welded 10y individuals reyo-
luton which, though pending for centuries.
was dimly seen IN its approach and imper-
fcctly apprehendcd in it, results or i'm its
tendency revolution which. ~ / have
said, may prove to he the most mumentnus
in recorded history
This revolution is cuntemporaneous with
causes in operation which have diminished
the agricultural prosperity, reduced the
population and clouded the future Of our
of our New England towns
What then Is II expected that free pub
lac libraries will rectify whatever is amiss
III society, or arrest the operation of econ
ulnic laws Certainly not. But may we
not reasonably hope that they will take the
place, IN part at least, of forces fallen into
decadence; that their establishment will be
in conformity with a manifest intent of the
people to organize themselves into all those
forms Of lnstrumentality which may pro
mote Intelligence. virtue liberty and equal
lty that the successful organization of the
people for the maintenance Of free public
libraries will lead ~ their organization in
all departments of human interest and
demonstrate that the whole people, thus or
gained, are wiser than any fraction Of the
people, however wise or cultured or virtu-
ously disposed; and that in making science
and literature free and accessible, one step
has been taken towards equalizing the con
ditons which enable all 10 enter into and
ENJOY those privileges to which all are en-.
titled, aud which, when entered into and
enjoyed, become a force for the develop
mcnt of the industrial. intellectual and
moral Resources Of the community
l have, | trust, no disposition to magnify
the Importance Of free public libraries but
there are some facts, in my Judgment, which
have not been duly considered. and to which
! shall presently advert. tending to show
that the power % literature for the devel-
opment of exact and productive thought.
and for inspiring sentiments which 20 to
the making of "a great people, has not had
a lar trlal m New England.
New England holds the graves of the an
cestors of no inconsiderable part Of the
people Of the United States and never can
her prosperity be a matter of Indifference
to their ppsterity, even in remote genera
tons. They will come hither ON pious pill
grlmageS; nor to them will her hills and
mountains, herpure air and beautiful rivers.
be less attractive 10y the presence of free
schools, free churches and free public libra
ries
At the dedication of the new library
building at Dartmouth college, the other
day gave some reasons for believing that
great libraries at the centres of art. science
and literature will, under the conditions of
our American life, probably Ice powerful in
centives and agencies of our progress in
those departments of thought and achieve
ment and now ask your attention To the
TACT that the present activity, in which our
best critics discern literary revival, is CO.
incident with the diffusion of literature
within the last 40 years among the people.
and that with its wider diffusion bv means
Of public libraries in all our towns. We may
reasonably expect even more gratifying re
suits. This calls for brief review of the
literary history of New England: and if
you listen To it without surprise. il must be
because you are better informed rs to the
facts than | was when began Ia look into
them The New England born have from
the beginning been an educated people, and
it has been generally supposed that their
literary culture was up IN the level of their
general ability and intellectual training.
think the fact is otherwise Neither Pill
grlms nor Puritans were literary people,
nor, with few exceptions, were they high
ly educated people, They were mainly Eng
llsh farmers living remote from literary
centres, and having neither means nor dis
position To 90 beyond the English parochial
education of those days. At their emigra-
ton they were led by some very able and
learned undergraduates of Cambridge and
OXfOrd-whose studies were chiefly Biblical
and polemcal, and whose culture had been
classical rather than English, There is no
evidence that they quaffed at Chaucer's pure
well, or had the slightest acquaintance with
the dramatists of the Elizabethan period
So it was with the first emigrants with
their children Of the first and second gene
rations it was worse. We have their poet
ry, and from the lists of their books which
have been preserved we know what they
read-Latin poets, polemcal divinity, his
tory, public law, commentaries and con
cordances Before 100 there was not in
Massachusetts,, so far as is known, copy
of Shakspeare's or of Millions poems and
as late l123, whatever may have been
in private hands, Harvard college library
lacked Addison Atterbury Bolingbroke,
Dryden, Gay, Locke, Pope, Prior, Steele,
Swift and Young.
As we approach the American Revolution
we find better state of things but even
then, as the gravity of their situation would |
lead us to expect, scholars were devoted to
ecclesiasticsm, politics and constitutional |
law rather than 10 literature.
The splendid outburst of English song in |
the first quarter of this century found no |
echo among our New England hills. Elk |
communities like that of Rrattla |